Building Sustainable Models of Research–Practice Partnerships Within Educational Systems

Purpose: To describe the 9-year journey of a group of language and literacy researchers in establishing and cultivating Research–Practice Partnerships (RPPs). Those interested in incorporating implementation science frameworks in their research may benefit from reading our exploration into this type of work and our lessons learned. Method: We showcase how a group of researchers, who are committed to collaboration with school practitioners, navigated building and scaling RPPs within educational systems necessary for our long-term implementation work. We provide details and illustrative examples for three, distinct, mutually beneficial, and sustainable partnerships. Results: Three different practice organizations are represented: (1) a single metropolitan school, (2) a small metropolitan school district, and (3) a large metropolitan school district, highlighting specific priorities and needs depending on the type of practice organization. Each partnership has distinct research and practice goals related to improving language and literacy outcomes in children. We describe how the researchers assisted with meeting the partner practice organizations’ goals and engaged in capacity building while producing rigorous scientific knowledge to inform clinical and educational practice. Additionally, we discuss how research priorities and strategies were pivoted in the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrating our commitment to the partnerships and how to respond to challenges to guarantee long-term sustainability. Conclusion: By discussing three distinctive partnerships, we demonstrate the various ways researchers can approach RPPs and grow them into mutually beneficial collaborations and support implementation goals.